Readings for Pentecost Sunday

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.


P.S. Remember to wear red to church this Sunday.
(and something comfortable -- picnic after the 11:00 service)

June 4, 2006
Pentecost Sunday, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary
(The Gospel is from the Prayer Book Lectionary)

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Ps 104:24-34,35b
Acts 2:1-21
John 20:19-23

Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the
spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it
was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very
many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me,
"Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord God, you
know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to
them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord
God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you
shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to
come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you,
and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord." So I
prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly
there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone
to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh
had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no
breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath,
prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God:
Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain,
that they may live." I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a
vast multitude. Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the
whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our
hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' Therefore prophesy, and
say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your
graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I
will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know
that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up
from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you,
and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then
you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act," says
the Lord.
_________________

When have you felt dry and lifeless, without breath or hope, without energy or strength?
How was life breathed into you again?
What other stories of rebirth and renewal do you know?
_______________________________________________

Psalm 104:25-35, 37b

25 O Lord, how manifold are your works! *
in wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
26 Yonder is the great and wide sea
with its living things too many to number, *
creatures both small and great.
27 There move the ships, and there is that Leviathan, *
which you have made for the sport of it.
28 All of them look to you *
to give them their food in due season.
29 You give it to them; they gather it; *
you open your hand, and they are filled with good things.
30 You hide your face, and they are terrified; *
you take away their breath,
and they die and return to their dust.
31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *
and so you renew the face of the earth.
32 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; *
may the Lord rejoice in all his works.
33 He looks at the earth and it trembles; *
he touches the mountains and they smoke.
34 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; *
I will praise my God while I have my being.
35 May these words of mine please him; *
I will rejoice in the Lord.
37b Hallelujah!
______________

Where is a special place in creation that sings to you of God's glory?
_____________________________________________________

Acts 2:1-21
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one
place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush
of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were
sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a
tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the
Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit
gave them ability. Now there were devout Jews from every nation
under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd
gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking
in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they
asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is
it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea
and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and
the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages
we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power." All were
amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this
mean?" But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new
wine." But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and
addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let
this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are
not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the
morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out
my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men
shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in
those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the
earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be
turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of
the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved.'
_______________

Have you ever had a pentecostal experience?
Have you ever experienced a religious ecstasy?
When have you felt as if you spoke with a capacity beyond your own gifts?
___________________________________________________


John 20:19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the
doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear
of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be
with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to
them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send
you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are
forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
__________________

What does it mean to you that the risen Lord also bears the marks of his woundedness?
What does the peace that Jesus gives mean to you?
What does it mean to forgive or retain sins?
__________________________________________________________________



Anyone may subscribe to receive this by email.
Send a regular email to the following address: lowell-request@arkansasusa.com
Then, type the following command in the main body of the email:
JOIN lowell your-email-address
(example: JOIN lowell JaneDoe@aol.com)

On most weekdays I send a Morning Reflection to this list based upon that day's scripture readings from the Daily Office.

Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville,